The Philosophy of a Village Boy
Ideas shaped by the village. Questions tested against the world.
The Philosophy of a Village Boy explores knowledge, science, African spirituality, indigenous thought, identity, and the territory between experience and evidence.
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Post 6: When the Situation Became Worse
Continuing from Post 5, where my uncle had told me that “the situation is now in your hands,” the situation was about to become even more difficult. The following year, I was in matric. Until then, there was at least one thing I had always been able to depend on.…
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Post 5: The Situation Is Now in Your Hands
Just to emphasise how hopeless my situation had become, as a continuation from Post 3, I remember one early evening when I was sitting with my eldest cousin. A figure appeared from the darkness and started walking in our direction. It was my uncle. He was the middle child of…
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Post 4: Does Everything Really Happen for a Reason?
Looking back at some of the issues I have written about so far, I have started noticing a pattern. A problem appears and, at times, the situation feels uncertain, difficult, or even unfair. I try to reason through it, understand what is happening, worry about the possible outcomes, and search…
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Post 3: Do What Is Within Your Control and Let the Unknown Unfold
When the Future Seemed Impossible I had little hope of attending university because of my family’s financial circumstances. Towards the end of my matric year, while my classmates were discussing where their academic journeys would take them next, one of them asked me where I was going to study. I…
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Post 2: A Journey Shaped by Circumstance
After matriculating from a village secondary school with merit, including a distinction in Biology and TshiVenda, and a B+ in Geography, I embarked on an academic journey that began with enrolling at a local university, the University of Venda, for a degree in Environmental Sciences. Coming from a humble financial…
Explore the Journey
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Post 1: When the Village Becomes Your Classroom
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Post 2: A Journey Shaped by Circumstance
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Post 3: Do What Is Within Your Control and Let the Unknown Unfold
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Post 4: Does Everything Really Happen for a Reason?
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Post 5: The Situation Is Now in Your Hands
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Post 6: When the Situation Became Worse
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Post 7: Is the Pattern Becoming Clear?
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Post 8: Do Your Part, Even If It Is Only a Drop in the Ocean
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Post 9: When Everyone Started Helping
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Post 10: The Human Sacrifice
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Post 11: Perhaps I Had Misunderstood Them
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Post 12: Was It Really a Change of Heart?
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Post 13: The Hidden Cost of Getting Your First Job
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Post 14: A Plan Built on Hours We Had Not Yet Worked
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Post 15: Do We Just Let His Efforts Go to Waste?
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Post 16: The Handwritten CV
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Post 17: When the Municipality Finally Called
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Post 18: The Interview I Could Not Afford to Attend
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Post 19: I Could Not Afford to Quit My Job
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Post 20: Does Hard Work Really Pay?
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Post 21: When an Internship Has Served Its Purpose
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Post 22: I Went to George Looking for a Job, Not a PhD
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Post 23: Was I Supposed to Be in George?
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Post 24: A Thank You That Took More Than Ten Years
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Post 25: When Explaining the Parts Does Not Explain the Whole
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Post 26: Was Life Preparing Me for the PhD?
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Post 27: When the PhD Made My World Bigger
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Post 28: Building My Grandmother a Place to Call Home
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Post 29: The I, Them, and We
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Post 30: Finishing a PhD from an Unfinished Chicken Shed
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Post 31: When a Qualification Was Not Enough
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Post 32: Returning to the Place I Had Left
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Post 33: Everything Will Be Alright
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Post 34: Was This What the Dream Meant?
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Post 35: Coincidence, Providence or Something Else?
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Post 36: Returning to the Ten Modules